Nicosia: Cyprus will participate in the Taranto Mediterranean Games from August 21 to September 3, with the largest delegation since it started taking part in the Games, according to the Cyprus Olympic Committee (COC).
According to Cyprus News Agency, the Cypriot delegation to the 20th Mediterranean Games comprises 145 athletes representing 24 sports federations, both figures being national records, the COC said in a press release on Thursday. This will be Cyprus' 12th appearance at the Games and the first time it will compete in handball, equestrian sports, padel, and fin swimming.
Cyprus made its Mediterranean Games debut in Casablanca in 1983 with four athletes - two in sailing and two in judo. Since then, 793 athletes have represented the country at the Games. Athletics accounts for the highest number of athlete appearances, with 216, followed by swimming with 75, shooting with 70, and gymnastics with 59. Judo is the only sport to have been represented in every Cypriot delegation.
Cyprus won its first medals at the 1987 Games in Latakia, when Marios Hadjiandreou in the triple jump and Mike Tymvios in skeet shooting both claimed gold. Dora Kyriakou became the first Cypriot woman to win a Mediterranean Games medal, taking silver in the 400 meters in Bari in 1997. Eleni Artymata and Anastasia Christoforou became the first Cypriot women to win gold at the Games, achieving this feat in Pescara in 2009.
Up to and including the 2022 Games in Oran, Cyprus has won a total of 65 medals - 19 gold, 21 silver, and 25 bronze. Athletics has contributed 28 medals, including 12 gold.
Cyprus recorded its best-ever performance in Oran, winning 14 medals - five gold, two silver, and seven bronze - and finishing 13th among 26 countries.
Eleni Artymata and Marios Georgiou top Cyprus' all-time individual medal standings, with six medals each, three of them gold.